I, too, can't take antidepressants. They make me manic, but worse, usually manic with mixed features. Antidepressants just cause me to have major mood instability.

I'd say that my major depression fighters and preventers are Lamictal and Seroquel XR. Actually, my pdoc won't raise my Lamictal above 100 mg, because even Lamictal can be overly activating and destabilizing for me at higher doses. Seroquel XR is the star of my medication cocktail. It is helpful at easing and preventing my anxiety, mania and depression. My recent Seroquel XR doses have ranged from 350-600 mg. My psychiatrist increases and decreases it depending on my mood state and level of sedation. My main non-antipsychotic moodstabilizer is Tegretol XR. I value that medication a lot, too, but won't go into that story. I consider all of my medications side effect friendly. Even Seroquel XR, as long as it's at 500 mg or below. Above that and I get hungry hungry.